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Summary
part 1 of a 2 part podcast
Paul sets out to talk about soil tests, with Samantha and Clay.
Paul used to test soil a lot, and spent a lot of time and effort getting the soil just right. This approach is good for growing specific crops.
20 years ago Paul took his first PDC at which Rick Valley was an instructor, Paul really liked Rick. Rick concluded that he'd do soil tests and eventually he realized that he always did the same thing regardless of the test result. Rick advocates deep mulch which almost always works. On one occasion it failed and it turns out that there were toxic levels of P and K. Rick's solution was to add Alder trees which absorb P and K and fix nitrogen although they do like a lot of water. High levels of P and K can result from repeated fertilization, the P and K build up in the soil while the nitrogen gets depleted.
Adding mulch helps build rich soil. Adding living roots and irrigation or rain makes it even better.
Samantha mentions the slime that earthworms use to make tunnels. Earthworms are massively important to building good soil. Sepp Holzer apparently uses greenhouses to breed worms which he scatters all over the hügelkulturs where they drag the organic matter underground. Apparently comfrey is good for earthworms as it sheds calcium on the ground which the worms like.
The next topic is root exudate. Paul thinks that plants like root exudate from other species, which is why polyculture is successful. Good mature soil also contains a lot of mycelium which has been shown to aid root exudate transfer, and the variety of exudate from different plants means they all get to eat their favorite food. Tilling the soil tends to kill off much of the life in the soil. Samantha comments that carrots grown in good garden soil are much tastier than ones from the store.
Paul relates an anecdote about putting mulch around his friend's tree with excellent results.
Relevant Threads
Soil forum
Mulch forum
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This podcast was made possible thanks to:
Dr. Hugh Gill Kultur
Kyle Neath
Bill Crim
anonymous
Chris Sugg
Kerry JustTooLazy
Jocelyn Campbell
Bill Erickson
Sasquatch
G Cooper
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Penny McLoughlin
Mehron Kugler
Pasquale DeAngelis
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Julia Winter, world's slowest mosaic artist
Greg Martin
Mark
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Candace Dahlk
Keith Kuhnsman
Leanne
Eric Tolbert
Nick DePuy
Nathan Hale
Opalyn Rose
Polly Jayne Smyth
Todd Gerardot
Katie Young
Ivar Vasara
Brent Lawson
Weston prestage
Candice Crawford
Chris Holtslag
Song Zheng
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